John Calvin Commentary Daniel 11:4

"And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion wherewith he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides these." — Daniel 11:4 (ASV)

This language is concise, but there is no ambiguity in its meaning. First of all, the angel says that after that brave king had risen to power, his empire would be broken in pieces. For when Alexander had reached his peak, he suddenly fell sick and died shortly afterward in Babylon.

Ambassadors had assembled around him from every direction. He was quite intoxicated by prosperity and very probably poisoned himself. Historians, however, have viewed him as a remarkable example of singular valor. Consequently, they have claimed—or at least supposed—that he was deceitfully poisoned by Cassander.

But we all know how intemperately and immoderately he indulged in drinking. He almost buried himself in wine, was seized with disease while drinking, and succumbed to it because no remedy was found for him. This, then, was Alexander’s poison. However we understand it, he fell suddenly, almost as soon as he began to establish his power.

After conquering nearly the whole East, he came to Babylon. He was uncertain in his plans for the deployment of his forces after he had secured peace for the whole East.

He was then anxious to transfer his armies to either Europe or Africa. The angel says, After he had stood up, meaning, after he had acquired the monarchy of the whole East, his kingdom should be broken up. He uses this simile because Alexander's entire power was not so much extinguished as broken into separate parts.

We know how the twelve chiefs who were his generals drew the spoils to themselves. Each one took a portion of his kingdom and divided it among themselves, as we have previously stated, just as if it were torn from their master’s body. They all consented to raise his brother Aridaeus to the dignity of king, and they called him Philip, so that while Alexander's sons were young, the memory of their father might commend them to the world. But eventually, four kingdoms emerged from Alexander’s monarchy. It is unnecessary here to refer to what we may read at our leisure in the writings of historians.

The Prophet only touches briefly on those points that relate to the instruction of the Church. He does not relate in order or in detail the events narrated in history; he only says, His empire shall be broken, and shall be divided... towards the four winds of heaven. The angel omits that division which assigned the treasure to one and gave the office of counselor to Philip. Perdiccas was the guardian of Alexander's son, and he, with others, obtained a portion of his dominions.

Seleucus obtained Syria, and his son Antiochus succeeded him. Antigonus became prefect of Asia Minor. Cassander, the father of Antipater, seized the kingdom of Macedon for himself. Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, who had been a common soldier, possessed Egypt. These are the four kingdoms of which the angel now speaks.

For Egypt was situated to the south of Judea, and Syria to the north, as we will later have occasion to observe. Macedonia came afterward, and then Asia Minor, both east and west.

But the angel does not enter into any complicated details; instead, he briefly enumerates whatever was necessary for the common instruction of the elect people. The common consensus of all writers has handed down these facts: four kingdoms were eventually constituted out of many portions, after the chiefs had so mutually slain one another that only four survived—namely, Ptolemy, Seleucus, Antigonus, and Cassander.

Afterward, the kingdom of Antiochus was extended when Antigonus was conquered, for Antiochus added Asia Minor to the kingdom of Syria. But Antiochus's rule lasted only for a time, and therefore the angel truly and properly states this empire to have been divided into four parts.

He next adds, And not to his posterity. No one could have guessed what the angel predicted so many years before Alexander’s birth, for he was not born until a hundred years after this period. Those who know the boldness of his warlike schemes, the rapidity of his movements, and the success of his measures would never have been persuaded of this result: the complete destruction of all his posterity and the utter extinction of his lineage.

Had Alexander lived quietly at home, he might have married and become the father of children who would have been his undisputed successors. He died young, soon after reaching the age of thirty; still, he might have married and had heirs to his throne. He had a brother, Aridaeus, and other relatives, among whom was his uncle Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. Thus, a royal offspring might have been preserved, and a successor prepared for him.

After he had subdued both upper and lower Asia, he became master of Syria, Egypt, and Judea, and extended his power to the Persians, while his fame spread over Africa and Europe.

Since no one dared to raise a finger against him—as he possessed a most magnificent army, all his generals were bound to him by very significant benefits, and so many of his prefects were enriched by his extreme liberality—who would have thought that all his posterity and relatives would be thus blotted out?

He left two sons, but they were slain, as was his brother Aridaeus, while his wives and his mother (aged eighty years) shared the same fate. Nor did Cassander spare her, for she intrigued against him. Eventually, as if God would punish the many slaughters committed by Alexander, He wished his whole posterity to be extinguished.

And yet, as I have stated, no foreign enemy was the agent in inflicting such heavy punishments. He had subjugated the whole East, and his bearing was such that it seemed as if the entire monarchy of that part of the world had descended to him from his ancestors by hereditary right.

As the world contained no enemy for him, his foes sprang from his own household. They slew his mother, his wives, his children, and all his relatives, and utterly rooted out all his lineage.

We observe, then, with what clearness and certainty the angel predicts events entirely concealed from that age and for a hundred years afterward—events such as would never be credited by mankind.

There seems a great contrast in the language: his kingdom shall be broken, it shall be divided towards the four winds of heaven, and not to his posterity. That is, although the four kingdoms would spring up in the four quarters of the world, yet none of Alexander’s posterity would remain in a single place or obtain even the smallest portion of his dominions.

This was a remarkable proof of God’s wrath against the cruelty of Alexander. He was not savage by nature, but ambition seized him, made him bloodthirsty, and made him unwilling to desire any end to his warfare. God, therefore, avenged that grasping disposition of Alexander’s by allowing his entire lineage to perish thus with disgrace and horrible cruelty. Because of this, that pride of his—which wished him to be thought a son of Jupiter and which condemned to death all his friends and followers who would not prostrate themselves before him as a god—that pride, I say, could never secure a single descendant to reign in his place or even to hold a single satrapy. Not to his posterity, says the angel, and not according to his dominion.

He passes to the four kings of whom he had spoken: It shall not break forth, he says, namely, from the four kings. He had already stated their foreign extraction, not in any way derived from the family of that king, for none of the four would equal his power, because his kingdom would be finished.

Here the angel seems to omit intervening events and speaks of an ultimate destruction. We know how the later king Perseus was conquered by the Romans, and how the kingdom of Antiochus was partly destroyed by war and partly oppressed by fraud. And the angel seems to note this.

We may interpret it more accurately by considering the cessation of Alexander’s empire with reference to his own lineage, as if the angel had stated that none of his successors would acquire power equal to his own.

And why was this so? Not one of them could accomplish it. Alexander acquired so mighty a name that all people willingly submitted to his sway, and no single successor could sustain the burden of the whole empire. Therefore, his kingdom, as far as it related to himself and his posterity, was divided, and no one succeeded to his power and his opulence. And it shall be given to others. The angel here explains his meaning. The destruction of the kingdom should not be explained merely in terms of its individual parts, for each successor seized his own portion for himself, and his successors were all strangers. And to others besides those; meaning, his kingdom will be seized by officers who are not of his posterity. That is, strangers will rush into Alexander’s place, and no successor will arise from his own kindred.